Self-centering demountable wheel.



l. E. STRIETELMEIER. SELF CENTERING DEMOUNTABLE WHEEL.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 10.. ma.

1,227,852. Patented May 29,1917.

A i i /n 20 UNITED sTATEs PATENT oFFIoE.

JOHN E. STBIETELMEIEB 0F CINCINNATI, 'QHIO, .ASSIGDTQR T9 THEv-LIDEAL. WHEEL COMPANY, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, A CORPORATION OT?" OI-IIO.

SELF-CENTERIN G DEMOUNTABLE WHEEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 29, 1917.

Application flied September 10, 1913. Serial No. 789,211.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN E. STRIETEL- MEIER, a citizen of the United States, and residing at Cincinnati, in the county of Ham1lton and State of Ohio, have invented a new and Improved, Self-Centering Demountable lVheel, of which the following specification is a full disclosure.

This invention relates to all-metal wheels and it proposes, (1) a structure utilizing bent sheet metal spokes assembled by means of few parts yet providing for ready replacement, (2) :1 spoke arrangement affording durability combined with easy riding qualities, (3) asuperior wheel-unit capable of use with any type of hub, (4) a construction especially suitable for an immediate substitution in place of wooden-spoked wheels while yet employing the old axle fitting,..and ('5) other advantages-noticed in the following description or apparent from this-disclosure. a

Figure 1 is-an elevation of a fragment of a wheel embodying this invention.

.Fig. 2 is afdetail showing the construction at the hub.

Fig. 3 is a detail of the fastening at the rim.

Equispaced around the inner periphery of the felly 'A, are a number of similar fasten- .ings B, B, etc, which consist each of a back-plate 1, a front plate 2, and a bolt 3 retained at its ends by passing through said plates. This bolt may carry a bushing 4 to reduce wear.

Thespokes C, C, etc., are innumber equal to the fastenings B, B", etc., andthe tip: or apex of each spoke taken insuccession terminates at corresponding fastenings. The spokes are all in the same plane and each is composed of two similar, but con vers'ely arranged, spoke elements 5 formed of strips ofsheet metal such as vanadium steel about one-sixteenth of an inch thick arranged endwise to the plane of the wheel. Each spoke element is pivotally attached to the rim and rigidly secured to the hub, and 'to that end the extremity of each spoke-element may be bent around to form a cylindrical loop and the free ends 6 brought fiatwise against the adjacent face of the strip and soldered or welded thereto to, compensate for the strength lost by the slots that are cut at intervals, leaving the retaining rings or loops 7 alternating with the slots 8.

, Internally,

taper shank, so that by removing one or more of the thin washersor liners9 adjacent its head, the bushing may be expanded enough to insure a sufliciently close fit to prevent rattle.

From its felly attachment, each strip 5 extends in a curve of progressively increasing radius toward andapproaches a point w located at the hub adjacent the radius line r-r which lies midway its fastening B and the. immediately adjacent. fastening B, and the curve preferably conforms to a hyperbolicsection the region a of which is thatof maximum curvature, and-the regiony being nearly straight. and extending practically radially. Just before entering into attachment with the,hub, the strip mayadefiect through the single ogee a and then. continue parallel with the radius line and enter the .slot 10 in the hub-memberwithout-a further change in direction. 112915, noteworthy that at no pointkwhere the spokeelement is freeto bend without being rigidly held by 'walls on each face of it, does it as sume an unduly obtuse angle (such ,asja.

both enter the slot 10 side by side in direct contact flatwise, but a filling strip 11 may inter ene if desired. Itjs'totbenotedthatwhere the strips?) emergefrom between the edges: 12 and 13 of the slotand for aa short distance beyond, as indicated by 14, there is little if any deflection from; a straightline, and then by a gradual deflection first in one direction-and then in another (without assing through any sharp bends) the'bod or working portion of the spoke-element is reached. i i

The slots 10 are narrow and elongated in an axial direction for a. distance equal. to the width of the strips 5 which in turn are as wide as the inner periphery of the folly. the slots enlarge as shown-and the entering stri s turn in opposite directions within the ots and their semi-circular portions 15 may have their inner semi-circular faces of conical contour. A conical or taper bolt 16 enters the conical recess formed by the portions 15 and is drawn up snugly by a nut 16,.preferably on the outer end of the hub member D; thereby securely wedging two strips to the hub-member by means of but one single element.

The hub member D is instanced as an element so devised as to be easily mountable upon the hub E of a conventional wooden wheel accurately concentric therewith, so as to enable possessors of ordinary wooden wheels to convert them into a superior type by merely displacing the wooden spokes and substituting the wheel unit composed of the parts A, B, G and D, thus preserving the regular bearing andsaving the cost thereof. The hub E has a circumferential seat 17 which originally received the ends of the wooden spokes,;and uprising at the inner end of such seat is an annular radial flange 18 provided near its periphery with a series of apertures 19. shanks 20 that pass through said apertures, and endwise movement of the bolts is restrained by shoulders 21 the nuts 22 on the inwardly projecting ends serve to retain the bolts in place these bolts serving to prevent the member D from rotating relatively to the hub E.

The hub member D provides a seri'es of ears 23 which, preferably are located near the inner end, of the same and extend radially toward the hub between ribs 24 that provide the slots 10. The walls between such ribs will preferably be thin, and formed as shown. Where the bolts G pass throughtheapertures in the ears 23, theywill preferably be slightly enlarged as indicated by 25 to facilitate demounting of the hub member D by providing shoulders for ermanently positioning the bolts on the hu E. An annular ring 26 having a conical aperture 27- is cast to the ribs 24 and cooperates to afford a firm mounting for the hub member D. A

Bolts G are provided with self-adjusting means may, if desired, be interposed between'the ring26 and the hub E, and such means may preferably assume the form of a split ring F havin a conical periphery and urged into place y an-ex ansible coil spring 28. A retaining ring If, held by nuts 22, holds member D in place.

I therefore claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A resilient wheel combining a hub member peripherally provided with axially extending socketshaving slots opening radially outwardly; a pair of sheet metal spoke elements terminating in each socket and each v having an ogee curve immediately upon emerging from said slots; and wedge means for clampin said elements in said sockets.

2. A whee unit comprising a felly, a series of equispaced fastenings thereon, a hubmember providing a series of slots radially midway. each pair of fastenings, a pair of similar sheet-metal spoke elements converging together at a fastening and each pivotal y secured thereto, said spoke elements curving apart and the one entering the slot radially on one side of said fastening, and the other entering another slot radially on the other side of said fastening, and wedge 

